Ruta del Che

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Id had enough of the cold and the fog so I decided to head to another village further west called Vallegrande. Its a good jumping off point for visiting the canyon and village where Che Guevara was captured, held and finally executed. I thought it would be quite an interesting trip and a good thing to do before it becomes too much of a tourist attraction. I took the local bus which was crowded and really bumpy (hardly any of the road was paved) and i was the only tourist and after a few accusing stares (something bolivian are good at) people warmed to me when I spoke spanish to them. When I arrived I ran into Melodie, a french canadian girl Í'd met earlier in the week. She had been unsuccessful in her quest for the Che trail but gave me loads of advice which was really helpful. Two french guys checked into the same hostel as me and they looked like Che fans (one had a fabulous rasta hairdo)so I suggested we go together and had Melodie translate for me. It turned out that one of the guys, Benjamin spoke brilliant english and his friend, Roman wanted to practise his! Perfect! so we spent the rest of the evening chatting and getting our Che plan of action together.

We went to play pool in a local bar, well, i say bar but it was basically some guys livingroom with a pool table and a fridge that was well stocked with local beer. A litre was only 6 bolivianos so we were happy! There were a few local guys playing when we got there and they had the weirdest rules ever. They also hammered the balls and took hours to pot anything. The boys didnt speak too much spanish but between us we managed to chat witht he locals and we eventually deciohered their rules. After their game we played against them and bet 2 bottles of beer. One of the locals was called Victor and spoke a little english. When he realised that we did he told us "I speak english" and he said it in exactly the same way that Manuel does on Faulty Towers so i asked him, in my best Manuel accent, "did you learn it from a book?" but of course he didnt get the joke. He told me I could play second because I was a girl! Cheeky Sod! So i wished immediately that Vic or Kathryn was with me so we could wipe the floor with him! However, after a very, very long game (the boys were also terrible at pool and took several shots to pot anything) the locals hammered us and we had to fork out for the beer. The next game, I played not too bad but still lost and then for the third game Victor insisted I team up with him. and im not sure how but we won!!! It also turned out that the guy who owned the bar, who we nicknamed maestro (teacher) becasue he was always giving me advice about which shot to take, knew Che from when he visited Vallegrande. But we didnt like to ask too many questions becasue he must get pestered all the time by gringos.

The following moring, despite a slight hangover we had an early start. We were told many different things by different locals about how we could get to the canyon where the guerillas were captured and the village where they were held and eventually executed. Eventually we hired a taxi to take us there and wait at the canyon (apparently it was a 3 hr hike) and then bring us back to Vallegrande. So after breakfast in the market and some smoothies in plastic bags to go, we were on our way. It was a 2 and a half hour drive to the canyon and our taxi driver was really friendly. He told us his parents had a boat that travelled along the river that ran through the valley by Vallegrande and other small towns and that Che and the other guerrillas frequently used the boat as transport. He said he remembered eating dinner on the boat with them but of course, he was only 10 and didn't realise how important Che was at the time. The whole area was gorgeous and the canyon was really big, deep and really steep. We paid a little girl who lived at the entrance to the canyon to show us the way. She flew down the steep windy path, we really had to watch our footing but the views just were stunning. When we reached the bottom there was a small river and the little girl, Rosemary, told us that this was were the guerillas were hiding when they were captured. The area was really peaceful and a little bit eerie so we stayed a while and took some pictures and then headed back to the car. The climb back up out of the canyon was quite difficult, it was really steep and there wasn't a proper path in most parts. IT felt like wday two of the inca trail all over again! Once again Rosemary raced ahead and left me huffing and puffing a mile behind! The guys were lovely though and always waited for me to catch up. Roman even offered to carry my bag! When we reached Rosemarys house again her grandmother was there and she took some time to chat to us. She remembered Che coming to the canyon and told us she used to sell fruit and food to the guerillas. She remembered when he was captured also. However she then demanded 10 bolivianos for her story! It was only about 10 minutes from the canyon to the village and we headed straight to the schoolhouse on the edge of the village. This was where he and the other guerillas were held until they were executed. The village was absolutely tiny and in the middle of nowhere. There was an old woman in a dusty old shop who tried to sell us copies of a photo of che holding her children We were the only tourists in the village and as we were standing outside the schoolhouse a guy came up behind us with the key! so we also got to see inside! There was like a small museum inside with an explaination of Che's final days. The guy also showed us the exact spot on the floor where he died. This freaked me out a little and then Benjamin wanted photos of him standing there and then offered to take photos of me! I politely declined!

After visiting the schoolhouse we headed back to Vallegrande to visit the Che museum. It told us pretty much the same as the school house but included in the entrance fee was a visit to the Lavenderia where his body was brought to be cleaned for burial and was then displayed to the worlds press. It was in the main hospital in Vallegrande which is still in use today. We had to walk through it, past the xray and operating theatre & the childrens clinic and out the back to what looked like a tiny shack in the grounds. It houses the sinks his body was displayed on and was covered in graffitti. All messages to Che from tourists, most of which were from Argentina and other South American countries. Like the schoolhouse, this place also felt really eerie. I have seen the famous photo of him dead so many times but to stand in the same place felt really wierd. It also looked really small. The boys knew loads about Che, his life and all about his capture. They didnt idolise him though, which so many people do without really knowing what he was all about. Soit was really tinteresting to hear about the histroy while I was visitng the places, like having two of my own private tour guides!

It was great hanging out with them for a couple of days. They didnt mind eating in the really cheap places (you can get a whole dinner for 5 bolivianoes, about 30p, but the places are usually a bit, or very, grotty and more for locals than tourists) which i love to do and they were really impressed when i spouted off my french speaking exam from standard grade! Hearing them speak french together reminded me alot of my french so i also managed to converse a little! They also bickered and teased each other alot all the way up the canyon so although I couldn't see the path, I could hear them and knew which way to go!

I headed back to Samipata that night as the hostel in Vallegrande was more expensive and Vallegrande was also absolutely freezing, so although i didnt find the warmth I was looking for (although the sun came out in full force when i had to climb out of the canyon, yeah, cheers, thanks alot) I was glad I had done El Ruta Del Che. I'll give it 5 years or so before becomes a fully developed tourist attraction sponsered by MacDonalds! Yuk!

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